5MinutesForMom.com

Spinning off Tuesday’s post, the question remains: If you do manage to cut your spending on discretionary purchases, how much money does that help you save every year?

Bills.com has a nifty Ways to Save Money feature that shows you how much your savings can add up if you sock away the money in an interest-bearing account. For example, cutting $5 per week from your grocery bill every week adds up to a savings of $1,300 over five years, assuming a 1 percent rate of return. That’s a fairly simple change that you can make with dramatic long-term results.

One drawback: At the moment, low-risk savings vehicles (like savings accounts and certificates of deposit) are paying peanuts — a fraction of a penny on the dollar in most instances. And Bills.com’s calculator does not allow users to select anything under a 1 percent return, so it may be overestimating how much your savings will compound over time.

But we offer a solution. Punch your estimated savings and the actual rate of return you’re getting in your savings account into our Compound Interest Calculator to play around with more realistic outcomes.

But what to do if curiosity has gotten the better of you? Or if you’re about to negotiate a starting salary or raise, how do you find out the going rate for your job? Several websites now purport to remove the veil of secrecy surrounding what Americans earn. (Of course, this being the internet, take what you read with a grain of salt, but these resources are your best bet for going into salary negotiations prepared.)

We’ve mentioned NetWorthIQ.com before (see here), a website where anonymous users disclose their income, age, assets, debts, and other financial specifics. However, the income bracket becomes broader as salary goes up, so there’s no telling whether the engineer from Virginia with a B.A. falls at the top or the bottom of the $100,000-$149,999 range. Therefore for top-paying jobs, it may be of limited use.

GlassDoor.com is another anonymous user-submitted salary resource. You first have to become a member (it’s free) and enter your own salary, company, and job title before you can search its database. But it gives an insider’s look at some of the country’s biggest employers in both the public and private sectors, from Hewlett-Packard to the U.S. Postal Service.

Finally, Salary.com is the granddaddy of income research, including specifics about bonuses and benefits. You can narrow down your search by industry, job title, zip code, your education level, and size of the company. You can even order a custom report called “You Vs. Market” for a more detailed analysis of where you fall on the salary bell curve. The only drawback is the site’s popularity, which means you will be bombarded with advertisements for continuing education and job listings, but navigate beyond that and Salary.com can be a pretty candid look at the pay stubs of others.

The Thanksgiving meal with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings will cost an average of $42.91, a decrease of $1.70, or 3.8 percent, from last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. […]

The cost of a 16-pound turkey, at roughly $1.16 a pound, reflects a decrease of 3 cents a pound from last year, or a total of 44 cents per turkey, the Farm Bureau said in its annual price list.

Of course, these numbers assume you’re not planning on an organic Thanksgiving! SmartMoney.com calculated that going organic this Thursday is likely to cost you $100 more than conventional groceries.

The question of why Thanksgiving dinner is cheaper this year is not a cut-and-dry issue; the price of food can rise and fall for all sorts of reasons.

But this year, it likely has something to do with consumer demand. If American families were flush with cash, and gobbling up turkey at a rapid pace, then we’d expect to be paying higher prices.

On the other hand, as recession-weary Americans have economized and bargain-shopped their way through 2009, these lower turkey prices come as little surprise.

Of course, not everyone’s happy about a cheap Thanksgiving dinner.

Retailers have had to cut prices to keep shoppers happy. But, as stores continue to vie for your business with dramatic discounts and special offers, make sure you’re not getting suckered into buying things you wouldn’t have purchased otherwise.

The clothing company H&M has made a name for itself providing high-fashion clothing at prices that most people can afford. (BTW – I am not paid by H&M; this is what my wife has told me.)

On occasion, H&M enlists the services of an otherwise exclusive designer, to produce a line specifically for the store. The latest such luminary is Jimmy Choo, the shoe & handbag designer of Sex-and-the-City notoriety. The line will be released in H&M stores in November.

The most basic black pump in Choo’s high-end line retails for around $500, with newer and flashier items fetching well over $1,000. At H&M, the entry-level price point will be $99, with the most expensive shoe topping out at $299. It’s not exactly Payless, but considering the demand for the designer, these are bargain prices.

Indeed, H&M is anticipating such high demand for this product that they’ve created a section on their website: “How to Shop.” The first 160 people in line at H&M stores will receive bracelets limiting their time to shop the Choo collection.

Furthermore, of the 150+ H&M locations in the US, only 10 will carry the line. Five of those are in New York City.

What gives? Why doesn’t H&M want everyone to experience the newly-affordable luxury that Jimmy Choo has created?

Not exactly. By limiting the supply and the amount that can be purchased, H&M is accomplishing two things: it’s ensuring that the price won’t fall, and it’s ensuring that Jimmy Choo maintains its mystique.

Consider this – what if every H&M store in the United States carried unlimited amounts of this line? Sure, they might be busy on the first day, but after a time the consumer demand would be satisfied. Inventories would build, and H&M would have to put the shoes on sale. So, not only would Jimmy Choo shoes be on the feet of every girl in the US, but they’d be selling at a discount price. The horror!

Instead of such a nightmare scenario, H&M and Jimmy Choo have played it smart. They’ve made a limited quantity, so the demand for these shoes will be far from satisfied, and there won’t be any pressure to discount the price. Additionally, since only a relatively lucky few will be able to purchase these shoes, Jimmy Choo can retain the exclusive aura that surrounds its name.

Now, while you’re standing in line on November the 14^th, you can explain to your fellow shoppers why the line has formed in the first place.

What’s your take on H&M & their supply of Choo’s shoes? Let’s hear about it in the comments!

PaycheckCity.com’s Net Pay Calculator takes the guesswork out. It’s a particularly useful tool if, for example, your job is in Washington, D.C., but you’re also apartment hunting in nearby Virginia and Maryland.

Assuming you’re a single tax filer making $50,000 with paychecks twice a month, this would be the difference for each paycheck based on the tax rates where you live:

• Maryland: $1,488.33
• Virginia: $1,481.46
• Washington, D.C.:  $1,463.33

In other words, by choosing to live in Maryland over D.C., you’d have $600 more in your pocket by the end of the year.

The calculator is also handy for seeing how much tax-deferred retirement contributions affect your take-home pay. If our Maryland-dwelling worker began investing $200 per pay period into a 401(k) account, his paycheck would only decrease by $125.60 because of the tax benefits. (So $125 in exchange for thousands of dollars in security decades down the road? Now that’s a good deal.)

Tip’d, however, seems to be a genuinely interesting and helpful community site that specializes in “financial news, ideas, and tips.” Much like Digg, you can “tip” stories you like and “topple” stories that look like spam. So far it seems like a useful aggregator for fresh personal finance, stock market, and entrepreneurial articles.

I say “so far” because it was founded in September 2008 and is clearly still in its infancy in terms of generating an active user base. But since Newsvine, Reddit, Digg, and Mixx haven’t filled the void in personal finance news aggregation, Tip’d may be in a good position to do just that. Check them out.

I wanted to point you to one such site in particular, from the Federal Trade Commission.  The site is called “Money Matters” (sound familiar?).  The FTC has great resources including a Scam Watch that takes a useful look at a lot of the mortgage rescue scams that are abounding right now.

The site also has a bunch of short, practical tips and links to reliable information on credit repair, debt collection, vehicle repossession and more.

So take a look. (But don’t forget about your friends at Econ4U!)

The reality, of course, is that starting a business – even a sole proprietorship – is filled with risk and hard work. So before sending off an angry “Take this job and…” email to everyone in your company directory book, here are a few links with good tips for the wannabe entrepreneur:

• BankRate.com: 5 ways to crash your small business – There are some excellent things to remember at this link, starting with “use your head, not your heart.” Many people go into business for themselves because they want to do what they love without the extra baggage that comes with working for someone else. The reality is that the baggage is oftentimes necessary: the details of accounting for every dollar and minute spent are ultimately important. Treat your business like you own it, not as if it’s just a job.
• Blogtrepreneur: Small Business Startup Myths – Think that with your own business you’ll be able to just relax and wait for the money to come in because you happen to be good at your current job? Think again. This post addresses some of the most common fantasies/myths people have about starting their own business.
• Guy Kawasaki: Five most important lessons I’ve learned as an entrepreneur – A great list from well-known tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki that’s primarily useful for web startups. Two particularly stand out: Focus on Cash Flow and Try Stuff. Early on, profitability is less important than spending money wisely and building an interesting product or service. Don’t hamstring your great idea because you’re focused on short-term profitability.
• Trizle: What Startups Get Wrong – Think you have a great idea that is sure to succeed? Well, it probably won’t. And here’s why. (Thankfully, the oft-cynical Trizle also lists some of the ways a small business can rebound from a slow start.)